Just as it is inaccurate to use “gender identity” as a replacement for sex, homosexuality and gender non-conformity–though both violations of heteronormative maxims[i]–are not the same. A person may be homosexual, but gender conforming. Or she may be gender non-conforming, but heterosexual. These characteristics often co-exist, but they are in no way causally related or interdependent. Among other differences, one is a private sexual preference that must be disclosed (see: the proverbial closet); the other manifests externally and is publicly observable.

Unfortunately, trans activists have taken a clumsy and consistently overbroad but underinclusive legal approach to addressing discrimination faced by gender non-conforming…